


with cats and weird crushes

by jjakbbam



Category: Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: M/M, Royalty AU, all people mentioned are listed as characters, sihyun is the prince, yongguk is a pet shop owner, yongshi and cats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 16:41:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12369813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjakbbam/pseuds/jjakbbam
Summary: In which Yongguk is a pet shop owner,  Sihyun is a prince and he thinks he has a crush.





	with cats and weird crushes

**Author's Note:**

> this was not beta read.  
> this was a whim.  
> this might turn somewhat weird and rushed at the end.  
> uhhh, enjoy.

Yongguk is the owner of the kingdom's pet shop, two of his closest friends are co-owners of the local pub and winery just a few doors down, and another friend is the ever kind farmer who gives him tomatoes weekly and helps him feed all his pets sell fresh produce down at the marketplace with his best friend. He'd like to say his life is perfectly perfect and calm, excluding the pub owners.

No one really comes to buy the animals at his store, he calls the two boys (they swear they're platonic friends with stuttered defenses and red faces) who come in every other day to take a look at the sparrows and baby bunnies in their cages his regulars. On other days, it's just the three of them with him, including those two crazies he calls his friends.

"Aren't you both supposed to be stocking up on wine or something for the royal banquet next week?" Yongguk slaps Taehyun's hand away from his face, these two look like and act like they're drunk at two in the afternoon when the pub opens at six.

Sungwoon laughs loudly, "Already done, dumbo, they're kept safely inside the storage room now. We can't give anything less than exceptional to the royals, can we? Taehyun will have my head."

"You both-" Yongguk stops abruptly when the door swings open with a bell tinkling with the wind and he bows slowly to the person who has just entered; Sungwoon and Taehyun are holding their laughter, fists stuffed in their mouths for the entire time the unknown person was inside the store.

Yongguk doesn't think he's ever seen such a strangely dressed person around the village before, matching flower print pants to a silky collared pajama shirt and hiking boots, with a pair of large sunglasses and a straw hat. Not even Taehyun dresses that weirdly.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Kim Yongguk is drawn in by a pair of doe eyes, and they're shining. It's late, around a quarter past two in the morning, and he was about to close the store when the boy suddenly swooped in, wearing a pink sweater and ripped blue jeans and walking straight towards the counter. Towards Yongguk.

"You look like a cat, I like cats."

When the boy had turned to leave, Yongguk still doesn't know what flew into his shy, quiet soul, to actually ask a stranger (a very pretty one, at that) if he could take a walk with him, if that wasn't so weird as he thought it was. The boy just smiled and nodded, shrugging the edges of sleeves over his hands as Yongguk fumbles with the keys on the top of the counter.

Now, it's a few minutes before half past two and Yongguk cannot stop glancing over at the boy; it's not his fault this boy is so pretty that he literally looks like the prince of the kingdom. It's also deathly quiet at this time, he's surprised the pub slash winery is already closed.

"Do you own that pet store?" The boy suddenly speaks up, breaking the silence and stopping in the middle of the bumpy road. Yongguk just nods. "You have really cute cats, do you own one?"

Yongguk nods again.

The boy's eyes suddenly light up, "What's your cat's name?"

Yongguk nearly forgets his cat's name before the boy asks him again and he stutters it out, "Tolbi."

The boy (he should really learn his name soon) continues asking him questions that he gives short answers to (because for some reason, Yongguk can't talk properly in front of him and he feels like he should recognize this guy) and time quite literally flies past because the next thing he knows, the sky is lightening already.

It's six in the morning; three hours passed and he didn't even notice.

When the sky is obviously starting to lighten, the first rooster crows and the farmer is already lugging up his batch of healthy produce down the road, the boy suddenly frowns at his surroundings and he jumps up from his seat on the grass, dusting off his jeans and tying his shoelaces once more.

"I, uh, I have to go-"

Yongguk jumps up as well as the boy is starting to jog down the empty street. They've been talking for hours and he still doesn't know the boy's name. "I'm Yongguk, by the way, and you are?"

The boy glances back then starts running backwards, waving his arms over his head and showing him his pointer finger, for some weird reason, "I'm Won! Kim Won!"

Ah, One. That's why. Well, Yongguk was not expecting Won to shout something else to him, his voice becoming fainter in the distance as he jogs backwards, in the direction of the heart of town.

"I'll come back tonight! I really like talking to you!"

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

"Ah, Sejeong!" Sihyun whines as the older girl is tugging at his sideburns while her hair is like a complete bird's nest and she's holding a watering can in her other hand. "Let go, it hurts!"

"You snuck out! Mom wanted to send the guards out to find you, are you insane? What if you got recognized and got killed out there?"

"You are so dramatic," he rolls his eyes, "I was just downtown, it's not dangerous! And I met a new friend, he didn't even recognize me!"

From the way his sister freezes and drops the watering can she's holding to the floor with a loud clang, Sihyun knows he messed up. He staggers away from her and clamps his hand over his mouth, eyes wide, as she stomps away in the other direction while screaming for the queen. He runs in the other direction, as well, running up a flight of stairs and locking himself in his room.

Well, until a maid comes knocking on his door and telling him that the queen is looking for him, anyway.

And their mother tells him that he needs to be on his best behavior at the end of the week until the day of the banquet because the royals from the neighboring kingdom are coming, and a marriage between their two kingdoms would apparently work wonders for their economy.

So, that night, like his promise to the pet shop owner that looks like a cat (Yongguk) and because he just really wants to rebel, he sneaks out again.

This time, he jumps out of his bedroom window into a hedge at 11:59 and he walks down the nearly empty streets while picking bright green leaves off of his black t-shirt.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Yongguk got dragged out of his own store to come inside the pub for a few hours by his friends, and he is so jittery because what if Won comes and he's not there? He already tried to leave a few times, but nope, Sungwoon and Taehyun are not having it.

He definitely finds it very unfair how Youngmin is allowed to leave but he isn't.

Sungwoon just retorts that Youngmin is free to leave whenever he wants because he works hard at his field and he harvests produce every morning, but Yongguk 'is a lazy ass who plays with his cats all day and stands guard for a pet store no one would ever steal from' when he's pretty sure that that's exactly what his job is?

At some point of the night, Yongguk sneaks out of the pub along with a large group of people, with a pair of people whom he recognizes to be that denying couple aka Ahn Hyungseob and Park Woojin. Their hands are clasped in each other's tightly and Yongguk shakes his head, chuckling to himself quietly as he runs out to where Kim Won left him the night before, his heartbeat loud in his ears.

Yongguk doesn't know what he was expecting, but he was pleasantly surprised and apologetic when he finds Won sitting alone on the bench a few blocks away from his closed store. Tonight, he's wearing a black shirt and a black cap on his head, and strangely, there's a leaf on top of it.

He jogs over to Won, smiling embarrassedly. "Hey, I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

Won looks up, flipping his long fringe out of his eyes and giving him a sparkling grin, "Nah, it's fine. I didn't wait long, just about, an hour, I think?"

Yongguk doesn't know if Won is sarcastic or not because he doesn't seem to sound sarcastic at all, but Yongguk is pretty sure an hour of waiting is long. But moving on, Won moves over and Yongguk sits down beside him, stretching his limbs silently as clouds cover the moon overhead.

"You weren't at the store today, though?"

"Some friends dragged me over to the pub." Yongguk sighs, then he suddenly freezes, realizing that that's the first actual sentence he properly said to Won without stuttering and making a fool of himself. "I don't even know what they're doing."

A second sentence without stutters. Amazing.

Then, for the next few hours, until the sun starts to rise and the sky starts to lighten once more, they talk and talk and talk. Yongguk's pretty sure he's never talked so much to any other person before, but he talks about quite a lot to Won, and when Won says that he'll see Yongguk again later that night, he's sort of sad.

And a lot tired.

So that day, Kim Yongguk falls asleep in his bed in his house over the pet store, at half past six in the morning after feeding all the animals and washing his face, and he doesn't wake up until someone comes banging on the door and makes him wonder how anyone even got in when he's pretty sure he locked the door.

When he falls off his bed and has to wake up, he throws open the door to find a disheveled Sungwoon smiling cheekily like the Chesire Cat and holding up the keys to Yongguk's store and house.

That causes him to wake up easily and lunge for his keys. Sungwoon just laughs at him and tosses him the keys, which fly over his shoulder and he has to run to get.

"Good afternoon, Yongguk, time to open your store, or at least, lock the door before anyone else can come in and steal your precious cat."

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Sihyun has to admit that his supposedly wife-to-be is really very pretty, and she's cute, and it's funny how loudly she's chewing on her piece of gum and looking like she totally does not want to be there with him at all.

"So, I take it that you don't want to get married, as well?"

Choi Yoojung shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. "It's not that I don't like you, it's just that I have a boyfriend outside the palace and I really don't want to get married to anyone else but him. Also, I'm nineteen, I'm too young to get married."

That's the first thing she said to him after formal introductions and Sihyun thinks she is quite talkative now that she stopped chewing her gum and actually started talking. Choi Yoojung says that she has a boyfriend of two years back in their kingdom, that he's the baker's son and he brings her bread every time they meet.

Which... is pretty adorable, though he'd prefer petting and seeing cats over receiving bread, honestly.

She's gushing on and on about him that neither of them notices her father coming out into the courtyard where they are and sternly asking her why she is so excited talking about a dog (?) and a balloon.

"I,uh, well, you see-"

Sihyun side eyes her, and she mentally sends him a plea for help. He licks his lips slowly, the gears in his brain whirring fast and he smoothly speaks up. "She was just telling me about her friend from the academy, sir. Doyeon, was that her name-"

"Yeah, I was telling him about the time Doyeon's puppy bit a balloon and the wind blew the puppy back!"

By now, Yoojung's composure has returned and she is easily lying through her teeth until her father decides he's heard enough and returns back inside the palace, leaving the both of them alone. Yoojung waits until he's completely out of sight before heaving a big sigh.

"Thanks for that, Sihyun. You're a life-saver."

"No problem." He smiles. She suddenly turns to him, facing him completely, eyes wide and blinking at him seemingly in curiosity.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Sihyun chokes on his own spit and abruptly switches the topic back to the dog she was talking about earlier that her boyfriend gave to her.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Sihyun's pretty sure that at some point of his life, he was interested in girls, when his mother was still continually drilling into his head when he was old enough (around eleven years old, maybe) to understand romance that he will eventually fall in love and find a wife.

Somewhere on the timeline of him growing up, however, he found himself kissing boys not once, but a few times, rather, but he never mentioned it to anyone because, well, what would they think of him, then? So yeah, he's not sure what exactly happened that he ended up liking both guys and girls.

He's pretty sure, though, that he feels something for Kim Yongguk, and he's not sure if it's the fact that Yongguk's cat likes him or the fact that Yongguk owns a pet shop or something else entirely.

When he's out on one of his midday walks with his weird get-ups, he finds a small dirty kitten cowering at the edge of the canal. Is it counted catnapping if the cat looks like it's lost and or abandoned? Looking around and noticing that every one just passes by without a second look, he quickly crouches down and scoops up the kitten, holding it carefully in his arms and running over to the pet shop.

On the other side of town.

Maybe Yongguk can adopt another cat and give Tolbi a sibling.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Youngmin comes bringing the tall son of the best friend of the friend of his mom from another kingdom because apparently, his tomatoes sold out very quickly that day that he has the afternoon completely free to play around with the rest of them. The kid is tall and friendly, has a very pure but mischievous smile and immediately becomes close with them all within one hour.

Except Tolbi.

The kid, his name is Yoo Seonho, by the way, stepped on Tolbi's tail so now, Tolbi apparently hates him and hisses whenever Seonho even takes as much as a step in the cat's direction. So Seonho has taken to hugging the life out of Taehyun and Sungwoon respectively until the pair of bar owners decide on their own to push Seonho face down on the floor and make a human tower with the three of them.

Youngmin's sitting on top of the pile, (after Taehyun and Sungwoon assuring and reassuring him that 'yes, Youngmin, you can just sit on us' and with Seonho screaming that they're all heavy and Youngmin should listen to him because they've known each other longer) looking very confused as if he doesn't know exactly why he's there, and Yongguk is just watching them do their own thing while scratching Tolbi behind the ears.

So when the door swings open with the bell jingling, Youngmin stumbles forward in his haste to stand and nearly faceplants on the ground, Taehyun pushes Sungwoon off of him before rolling off Seonho himself, and Seonho just flips over on his back, eyes wide. The person at the door - oh, it's that weirdly dressed guy again - is holding a small kitten in his arms and has his head tilted in confusion before shaking himself back to reality and walking over to the counter and setting down the shivering, Yongguk now notices, cat.

Yongguk's taken himself by surprise when the person peers from underneath his straw hat and into his eyes.

Kim Won.

Won silently waves his hand towards the cat and Yongguk blinks before nodding slowly and putting down Tolbi so he's able to pick up the cat shivering on his counter and gently scratch it behind the ears. Then, Won leaves without saying a single word.

"Who was that?" Seonho breaks the silence; Youngmin asks the same question.

Sungwoon suddenly declares, "He's weird. Why doesn't he say anything?"

"Do you know him?" Seonho asks Yongguk, who is now staring at the door while it's slowly fluttering closed and absently petting the kitten.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

"Why were you dressed so weirdly?" Yongguk asks Won the next time they meet each other. Won has ditched the weird get up and is now wearing a thin white sweater over a pair of red jeans. It reminds Yongguk of Christmas, even without Won wearing a green shirt or anything.

The other boy, shrugging the edges of his sweater over his hands and simply grinning, doesn't answer until moments later, "I'm hiding from my mom."

"By dressing like my grandmother back in China?"

Won chuckles lightly, nodding. "Exactly."

Yongguk ends up dropping the topic because Won is somehow extremely good at diverting subjects and he has now started talking about the cat he brought in earlier and Yongguk cannot stop the worries from flowing out.

The cat's malnourished, sort of wild (from the way it scratched Sungwoon, to Taehyun's laughter and screaming) and it's pretty much scared of them all. It tries to scamper away every time someone comes near, or, like what happened to Sungwoon, they end up with scratches.

Yongguk is amazed how Won even managed to pick up the kitten.

But then, the next sentence he says is the one of the most out-of-the-blue Yongguk thinks he has ever heard in his life.

"I think I have a crush."

Okay, not really one of the most out-of-the-blue things he heard in his life, but it's one of the most random things he heard Won say. He's heard Sungwoon and Taehyun say it to each other before then both of their faces lit up like Christmas lights immediately after. He's heard Seonho say it just an hour after they met.

And now, he's hearing it from Won.

Yongguk tilts his head, pretending like his heart isn't suddenly running a million miles a minute for some reason. "On who?"

"On a cat." Won says casually, then suddenly chokes on his own words, and mumbles that he takes that back before saying, "On someone who looks like a cat, I mean."

"Do you mean me?"

"I think so." Won pauses, then adds, "Yeah, I think I have a crush on you."

Yongguk is also amazed how straightforward Kim Won actually is, when he's gotten so used to Noh Taehyun and Ha Sungwoon giving each other's back googly eyes.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Sejeong forced Sihyun to let her come with him, okay? It's not his fault he has such a clingy and nosy sister like her when all he did was tell her he might have a crush on the owner of the kingdom pet shop.

Which might not have been a good idea, after all.

Sejeong told their mom they would be going out into the kingdom together for 'a day of peace and quiet and to bond with each other' and that's literally all the reason their mother needs because she's very positive that Sejeong is never foolish unlike Sihyun, apparently.

Now, Sihyun's not really worried or anything on being recognized because if Yongguk doesn't recognize him as the prince, there's a less than twenty-five percent chance that he would recognize Sejeong.

Except that when they get to the pet store at seven in the evening, they're recognized. Not by Yongguk, no, Yongguk looks lost. But by his two friends who are always hanging in the store in the morning (he says they're the pub and winery owners).

Yongguk's two friends end up screaming and slapping each other the moment they step in, and Sihyun thinks that telling Sejeong anything was really a terrible idea.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Yongguk cannot believe this.

Sungwoon and Taehyun and Won and Sejeong (the actual princess, wow) are telling him that Won is part of the royal family. That Kim Won is actually named Kim Sihyun and is the prince. And Yongguk never knew before this moment.

Yeah, he's heard about the royal family, but he only knew their names and not their faces, and now Sungwoon and Taehyun are looking at him like he sprouted eight more heads when he asked who Kim Sejeong was.

He's an idiot. Sungwoon and Taehyun agree with him on that.

Now, Won - no, Sihyun - Sihyun is looking at him with a sheepish, soft smile and his eyes reflecting light as he looks at his folded hands while Taehyun and Sungwoon are animatedly talking to each other in hushed voices under their breaths.

"So." Kim Sejeong speaks up, and Taehyun slaps his hand over Sungwoon's mouth. "So, you're the guy my brother likes?"

And then, it's chaos once more with Sungwoon screaming out loud in his astonishment and Taehyun waving his hands in the air. Yongguk sighs deeply, lowering his head in shame in front of the royals. He expected those two to be better behaved in front of royal people, not.... whatever this is.

Kim Sejeong then follows up with another question: What does Yongguk think of Won- Sihyun?

Frankly, he never thought of Wo- Sihyun as than more than a friend. He's pretty, yeah, he has shining doe eyes and is really nice all that, but he's already started thinking of Won, Sihyun, whatever, as somewhat of a brother and a great friend who likes cats.

But he doesn't say that, how can he reject the prince in front of his sister?

He just says a simple answer, he plays safe. "He's great."

Then he proceeds to think over the question for the next few days, days that turn into weeks as he continues occasionally meeting up with Sihyun, and nope, he can't find an answer.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Yongguk thinks Sihyun realized that he's not really romantically interested in him, from the way his eyes look misty and he doesn't look like he's really listening properly or he looks like he's always lost in thought, and he's not sure what to make of it.

He just wants to keep their friendship, that's all. He's not exactly bothered by the fact that Kim Won is a royal.

"Uh, do you want to come in and see Rcy?" Yongguk suddenly asks when Sihyun pops up out of nowhere and peeks in through the glass door at Yongguk when he's closing up.

It's only then that SIhyun's eyes light up once more with the same shine and glitter, and Yongguk thinks he'd love to see that every day.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

It's New Year's Eve when Yongguk officially tells the prince that he's not really interested in him, but he'd love to keep their friendship just the way it is.

Sihyun just nods silently, then swiftly switches the topic to how Rcy and Tolbi are doing, just as the first fireworks of the night are launched into the sky.

Yongguk has a sudden though, "Aren't you supposed to be at the palace for a ball or banquet or something?"

Sihyun shrugs, "I'd rather not be there."

But he leaves the moment the colors fade away and before a new batch can be launched into the air, leaving Yongguk alone and wondering if he said something wrong so he goes to the pub, where Sungwoon and Taehyun are hosting a party. Like always.

Sungwoon thrusts a glass in his hand, telling him to 'drink up' and the cycle continues for the next hour or so until Yongguk becomes drunk enough to spill every thought flying around in his brain, and Taehyun screams at him when he hears about Sihyun.

"I swear to God, if you break the prince's heart, I will-"

"Taehyun!"

"We will personally steal your cats and give them to the prince just so they can cheer him up." Sungwoon tells him, continuing Taehyun's words. (They've always had this weird telepathy sort of thing.)

He falls silent, as silent as they can be at a party, then Taehyun suddenly adds, just to burn him. "I think they've always liked him better than they like you anyway. I think you annoy Tolbi."

Yongguk tosses a random peeled potato (where did that come from?) lying on the bar counter at Taehyun, "Shut up. They love me."

"What does the prince see in you?"

"My love for cats."

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

When Yongguk sees Sihyun again, Sihyun is very sudden and proud in announcing that he might not have had a crush on Yongguk after all, everything's just really confusing, but Sihyun skips up the stairs and inside his house, then comes back with two cats in his arms.

"I love your cats, honestly."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think I might have had a crush on them after all."

Yongguk blinks. He's pretty sure Sihyun wasn't like this before, not as strange and bright and overall weird. Was it the effect of the night before's activities?

But he doesn't ask, he's just slightly alarmed but very relieved that Sihyun doesn't seem to be at all heart broken. "I see."

Yongguk decides to leave the topic aside, and maybe never talk about Sihyun's supposed crush on him because really, he'd love to just live a very peaceful life with his cats. He doesn't need any trouble with royalty.


End file.
